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Oversupply/OALD and Chomping?

My son is 7.5 weeks old and we have been battling oversupply/OALD since the beginning of our nursing relationship. My biggest issue is that he seems to chomp to get the milk rather than suck and draw. Needless to say, the chomping is not comfortable for me. My nipples are slightly sore, but otherwise relatively intact. They often do not come out of his mouth creased, but do sometimes appear blanched. I do not think that I have Raynaud’s as the blanching does not hurt once he is unlatched and the blood flow returns relatively quickly. He opens wide and I can get him on with a wide mouth over a lot of the areola, but he doesn’t always seem to have a good seal and will often slide down. I can hear him gulp milk despite his chomping and a few weeks prior he did choke and sputter more frequently. I often hear him “click” while he’s nursing. He is excessively gassy, but does not have the green, stinky poop. I have also tried the Australian hold, but we both just seem so uncomfortable using this hold, so I abandoned this practice. I have also tried stimulating my let-down before putting him on as well as unlatching during my let-down and then putting him back on, all to no avail. Earlier on, I did block nursing for about a week and my supply did seem to drop so that I was not so engorged. I’m not sure at this point if I am still dealing with oversupply as much as OALD. During the day, my breasts are pretty soft unless he takes a long nap, and I don’t feel engorged unless he sleeps for a long period of time at night, which he generally does once for about 6 hours. When I’m engorged at night, I get up and pump first to relieve some of the fullness and then either feed him or have my husband give him the expressed milk in a bottle (as my tolerance for the situation is less at night). I have been to support group meetings from the local hospital, a LLL meeting, and had a one-on-one session with a LC. Nobody seems to be able to tell me anything that I haven’t already read or heard. What I am hoping to find by posting here on the forums are other moms who may have had the same issue. I would like to know if the chomping ever ceased once their supply was better matched to their baby’s needs, and that the baby did eventually start to suck/suckle. Over the weekend, he did suck a few times, which felt so much better. I could feel the gentle tugging that I’ve read about and my nipples came out looking slightly elongated, but otherwise normal, so I’m pretty sure he can do it. I am extremely stressed and saddened by this situation as my first son was also a chomper. I nursed him for a whole year painfully and just don’t think I have it in me emotionally to do this again. My first son was vacuum extracted and finally diagnosed with a mild torticollis that was discovered after cranio-sacral therapy, occupational therapy, and a chiropractor. He severely creased my nipples. Though my second son is chomping I don’t think he has torticollis or anything of this nature, so I am still hoping for a positive outcome. Thanks in advance for any information anyone can provide! Sorry for the long post.

Re: Oversupply/OALD and Chomping?

Hm...DS didn't consistently chomp but he did on and off at the beginning and I agree, it was very painful and frustrating. He was choking and sputtering and I was crying...not pretty. I'm not sure if it's the same thing you're going through but my midwife made a couple suggestions that I thought I'd pass on just in case it's helpful to you. She suggested pumping for 5 minutes per side before feeding him every time. I did this for about a week, then I was able to start pumping only in the morning and before bed and after a couple weeks didn't need to at all. The other suggestion she made was to hold him sitting up in front of me to nurse him. She said he would have better control and not choke as much and he could more easily pull away if he needed to. We both ended up soaked in breast milk after most feedings, but it works.